Harlots season 3 review: Everyone feels the heartbreak of a favorite’s death

Hulu’s Harlots tries to pick up the pieces following its most heartbreaking twist to date, as characters grieve, lies get told, and Lydia Quigley steals the show.

Hulu’s Harlots aired its most heart-breaking and controversial episode to date, as season 3’s third episode saw central character – and fan favorite – Charlotte Wells fall to her death after being pushed over a balcony in Lady Fitzwilliam’s home.

And though we might all wish it weren’t the case – Charlotte is really, truly gone. And Harlots will never be the same again.

Following such a shocking installment, Harlots naturally finds itself in a precarious position. The show must find a way to both honor Charlotte as a character and give viewers time to grieve her loss, while keeping the overall story moving at the same time.

But in a completely unexpected turn, this episode actually belongs to Lydia Quigley.

Yes, Samantha Morton, Liv Tyler, Eloise Smyth and the other girls from Greek Street do yeoman’s work in selling the utter devastation of Charlotte’s death – to both her family and the other girls who loved her. Even Alfie Allen’s detestable Isaac Pincher becomes almost humanized in his emotion over her fate. But it’s Lydia – cruel, vile, horrible Lydia, who exists simultaneously at her best and worst in this episode – who makes the depth of Charlotte’s loss clear.

“They will think I did it,” Lydia intones in a broken huff, collapsing as she and her young protégé Kate flee the Fitzwilliam house before Charlotte’s body is discovered.

It’s a testament to Lesley Manville’s acting talents that this brief, blink and you’ll miss it moment lands like a punch to the face. She manages to convey Lydia’s heartbreak and resignation in equal measure. This is the life she has made. And Charlotte represents the things she lost along the way.

Of course, everyone will assume Lydia did it – the Wells family generally already views her as the devil incarnate. But Lydia, despite everything, truly loved Charlotte, and it’s hard to imagine a world in which she would ever consider doing her harm, no matter how difficult or antagonistic things between them became. Charlotte mattered to her. And if Charlotte Wells could melt the heart of a woman like Lydia, well. She was something special indeed.

But everyone in London apparently knew that, if her funeral is any indication. Lady Fitz opens up her house to the Wells family, giving them a place to rest, grieve, and honor Charlotte. Her body lies “in state” for all to see, and many come to pay their last respects as poor Margaret sobs helplessly behind a curtain, unable to sit by her daughter’s body. (Since, you know, all these people think she’s dead.)

This episode is clearly one of transition, and serves as the bridge between a Harlots with Charlotte, and one without. There is certainly plenty of story left to tell, especially now that Lydia purposefully let the equally vile Mrs. May choke to death and has inherited all her money and investments. (Including, one assumes, her stake in Lucy’s molly house in Golden Square.) Oh, and she’s figured out that Margaret’s still alive, too. That will surely end well.

The Pincher brothers’ relationship appears to be in dire straits, as Isaac continues his emotional freefall and Emily Lacey desperately schemes to protect both brothers, even as she realizes at least one of them was likely responsible for Charlotte’s death. Given the fact that both Pinchers also now know that Margaret is alive and in London, this seems to be a recipe for a disaster of its own in future.

Might Emily decide that the proper way forward for both her and Hal is to cut Isaac loose? Or will she continue to risk her own future on a lie for some men she basically just met?

In all honesty, Emily probably deserves better than this story as a character. Sure, she’s a climber, but she’s not an idiot and has always done what she had to in order to survive. The idea that she’d risk herself for Isaac, is kind of wild. Perhaps it’s meant to convince us that she really loves Hal, but, well. She really loved Charles Quigley last season, too.

It’s difficult to watch Emily deliberately prevent any sort of justice being done for poor Charlotte. Granted, she’s trying to pin her death on a woman both she and Charlotte hated, but at the end of the day, that’s still wrong. Maybe Lydia deserves to be punished for a lot of things, but not for this. And not while allowing yet another man get off scot-free committing an act of violence against a woman.

Speaking of characters with divided loyalties, Margaret Wells is also stuck between a rock and a hard place. She’s crushed over the loss of her daughter, obviously, as that’s a pain no parent should face. But what’s to become of her now? She’s trapped between the husband she left behind and the new one she clearly learned to care for in America. She’s supposedly “dead” in England – though given the fact that at least a dozen people know that for a lie, and three more figure it out within the space of an hour, it’s difficult to imagine a world where that particular secret sticks for much longer. What happens to her then?

But, for the most part, this episode is a sort of emotional catharsis for everyone. (It’s okay if you cried. I did!) There are sad songs, haunting memories, and a big gaping hole where the heart of this show used to live. Who will step forward to fill it? Lucy? Kate? Lady Fitz? We’ll likely spend the rest of the season finding out.

New episodes of Harlots stream every Wednesday on Hulu.